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Quo Vadis (1951 Film)
''Quo Vadis'' (Latin for "Where are you going?") is a 1951 American epic film set in ancient Rome during the final years of Emperor Nero's reign, based on the 1896 novel of the same title by Polish Nobel Laureate author Henryk Sienkiewicz. Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and filmed in Technicolor, it was directed by Mervyn LeRoy from a screenplay by S. N. Behrman, Sonya Levien, and John Lee Mahin. It is the fourth screen adaptation of Sienkiewicz's novel. The film stars Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, and Peter Ustinov, and features Patricia Laffan, Finlay Currie, Abraham Sofaer, Marina Berti, Buddy Baer, and Felix Aylmer. Future Italian stars Sophia Loren and Bud Spencer appeared as uncredited extras. The score is by Miklós Rózsa and the cinematography by Robert Surtees and William V. Skall. The story, set between 64–68 AD, combines both historical and fictional events and characters, and compresses the key events of that period into the space of only a fe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy (; October 15, 1900 – September 13, 1987) was an American film director and producer. In his youth he played juvenile roles in vaudeville and silent film comedies. During the 1930s, LeRoy was one of the two great practitioners of economical and effective film directing at Warner Brothers studios, the other his cohort Michael Curtiz. LeRoy's most acclaimed films of his tenure at Warners include '' Little Caesar'' (1931), '' I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang'' (1932), '' Gold Diggers of 1933'' (1933) and '' They Won't Forget'' (1937). LeRoy left Warners and moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in 1939 to serve as both director and producer. Perhaps his most notable achievement as a producer is the 1939 classic '' The Wizard of Oz'', of which he was also uncredited as a director. Early life LeRoy was born on October 15, 1900, in San Francisco, California, the only child of Jewish parents Edna (née Armer) and Harry LeRoy, a well-to-do department store owner. Bot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epic Film
Epic films are a style of filmmaking with large-scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The usage of the term has shifted over time, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply synonymous with big-budget filmmaking. Like epics in the classical literary sense it is often focused on a heroic character. An epic's ambitious nature helps to set it apart from other types of film such as the period piece or adventure film. Epic historical films would usually take a historical or a mythical event and add an extravagant setting and lavish costumes, accompanied by an expansive musical score with an ensemble cast, which would make them among the most expensive of films to produce. The most common subjects of epic films are royalty, and important figures from various periods in world history. Characteristics The term "epic" originally came from the poetic genre exemplified by such works as the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' and the works of the Trojan War Cycle. In classical lite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global population. Its adherents, known as Christians, are estimated to make up a majority of the population in 157 countries and territories, and believe that Jesus is the Son of God, whose coming as the messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible (called the Old Testament in Christianity) and chronicled in the New Testament. Christianity began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the 1st century Hellenistic Judaism in the Roman province of Judea. Jesus' apostles and their followers spread around the Levant, Europe, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, the South Caucasus, Ancient Carthage, Egypt, and Ethiopia, despite significant initial persecution. It soon attracted gentile God-fearers, which led to a departure from Jewish customs, and, after t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, and was ruled by Roman emperor, emperors. From the Constitutional reforms of Augustus, accession of Caesar Augustus as the first Roman emperor to the Crisis of the Third Century, military anarchy of the 3rd century, it was a Principate with Roman Italy, Italia as the metropole of Roman province, its provinces and the Rome, city of Rome as its sole capital. The Empire was later ruled by dominate, multiple emperors who shared control over the Western Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire#Early history, Eastern Roman Empire. The city of Rome remained the nominal capital of both parts until AD 476 when the imperial insignia were sent to Constantinople following the capture of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carlo Pedersoli
Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Charles. *A former member of Dion and the Belmonts best known for his 1964 song, Ring A Ling. *Carlo (submachine gun), an improvised West Bank gun. * Carlo, a fictional character from Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp * It can be confused with Carlos * Carlo means “man” (from Germanic “karal”), “free man” (from Middle Low German “kerle”) and “warrior”, “army” (from Germanic “hari”). See also *Carl (name) * Carle (other) *Carlos (given name) Carlos is a masculine given name, and is the Portuguese and Spanish variant of the English name '' Charles'', from the Germanic '' Carl''. Notable people with the name include: Royalty *Carlos I of Portugal (1863–1908), second to last King o ... {{disambig Itali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sophia Loren
Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood cinema. As of 2022, she is one of the last surviving major stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema and is the only remaining living person to appear on the AFI's list of the 25 greatest female stars of American film history, positioned at number 21. Encouraged to enroll in acting lessons after entering a beauty pageant, Loren began her film career at age sixteen in 1950. She appeared in several bit parts and minor roles in the early part of the decade, until her five-picture contract with Paramount in 1956 launched her international career. Her film appearances around this time include '' The Pride and the Passion'', '' Houseboat'', and '' It Started in Naples''. During the 1950s, she starred in films as a sexually emancipated pers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felix Aylmer
Sir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones, OBE (21 February 1889 – 2 September 1979) was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television. Aylmer made appearances in films with comedians such as Will Hay and George Formby. Early life Felix Aylmer was born in Corsham, Wiltshire, the son of Lilian (Cookworthy) and Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Edward Aylmer Jones. He was educated at King James's Grammar School, Almondbury, near Huddersfield, where he was a boarder from 1897 to 1900, Magdalen College School, and Exeter College, Oxford, where he was a member of Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS). He trained under the Victorian-era actress and director Rosina Filippi before securing his first professional engagement at the London Coliseum in 1911. He appeared in the world premiere of ''The Farmer's Wife'' by Eden Phillpotts at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1917. Between 1917 and 1919 he served as a junior officer in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (R.N.V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddy Baer
Jacob Henry "Buddy" Baer (June 11, 1915 – July 18, 1986) was an American boxer and later an actor with important parts in seventeen films, as well as roles on various television series in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1941, he came extremely close to boxing stardom at Washington's Griffith Stadium, when in the opinion of most ringside officials, Joe Louis gave him a disqualifying late sixth-round hit in a title match that should have made Baer the world heavyweight champion. He lost to Louis in a rematch for the title the following year but remained solidly ranked among the top heavyweights in the early 1940s. In 2003, Baer was chosen for '' The Ring'' magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. He was the younger brother of boxing heavyweight champion and actor Max Baer, and the uncle of actor Max Baer Jr. Boxing career Baer was born in Denver, Colorado, on June 11, 1915, to father Jacob, a butcher, and mother Dora Bales. A few sources list his birthplace, like his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marina Berti
Elena Maureen Bertolino (29 September 1924 – 29 October 2002), known professionally as Marina Berti, was an Italian film actress. She was born in London from an Italian father and an English mother. Biography Her first screen appearance was in the Anna Magnani film, ''La Fuggitiva'' in 1941. She appeared mainly in small roles and in the occasional leading role in nearly 100 films both Italian and American. Her appearances include ''Quo Vadis'' (1951), ''Abdulla the Great'' (1955), '' Ben Hur'' (1959), ''Cleopatra'' (1963), ''If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium'' (1969), '' What Have They Done to Your Daughters?'' (1974), ''Last Stop on the Night Train'' (1975), and the TV miniseries' '' Moses the Lawgiver'' (1975) and ''Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977). Her last film appearance was in the Costa-Gavras film '' Amen.'' in 2002. She was married to the Italian actor Claudio Gora from 1944 until his death in 1998. She was the mother of actor Andrea Giordana and actress Marina Giorda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abraham Sofaer
Abraham Isaac Sofaer (1 October 1896 – 21 January 1988) was a Burmese-born British actor who began his career on stage and became a familiar supporting player in film and on television in his later years. Life and career Although Sofaer was born in Rangoon, Burma (then a part of the British Empire), he was descended from Baghdadi Jews. The son of a very successful merchant, Isaac Sofaer (who established the Sofaer Building, Rangoon, which still stands today), he was educated locally at the Diocesan Boys’ High School. His education continued in England, and he initially worked as a school teacher in Rangoon and later in London."A. Sofaer, 91; Veteran Film, Stage Actor" obituary, ''Los Angeles Times'', January 22, 1988. Retrieved May 2, 2018. Sofaer began his acting career on the [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finlay Currie
William Finlay Currie (20 January 1878 – 9 May 1968) was a Scottish actor of stage, screen, and television.McFarlane, Brian (28 February 2014). ''The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition''. Oxford University Press. pp. 175-176; He received great acclaim for his roles as Abel Magwitch in the British film '' Great Expectations'' (1946) and as Balthazar in the American film '' Ben-Hur'' (1959). In his career spanning 70 years, Currie appeared in seven films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, of which '' Around the World in 80 Days'' (1956) and '' Ben-Hur'' (1959) were winners. Career Currie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He attended George Watson's College and worked as organist and choir director. In 1898 he got his first job in Benjamin Fuller's theatre group, and appeared with them for almost 10 years. After emigrating to the United States in the late 1890s, Currie and his wife, Maude Courtney, did a song-and-dance act on the stage. He made his fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patricia Laffan
Patricia Alice Laffan (19 March 1919 – 10 March 2014) was an English stage, film, television and radio actress, and also, after her retirement from acting, an international fashion impresario. She was five-feet-six-inches tall, with dark reddish-brown hair and green eyes. She is best known for her film roles as the Empress Poppaea in ''Quo Vadis'' (1951) and the alien Nyah in ''Devil Girl from Mars'' (1954). Her biography, "Devil Girl Remembered", was written by Andrew Ross in 2021 and published by Fantom Publishing. Early life Patricia Laffan was the daughter of Irish-born Arthur Charles Laffan (1870–1948) and London-born Elvira Alice Vitali (1896–1979). She described her father as 'a successful rubber planter in Malaya'. Her parents returned to the British Isles shortly before the birth of their daughter in London. On seeing the MGM film ''The Broadway Melody'' (1929) at the age of ten, Patricia decided she wanted to act. She was educated at schools in Folkestone, K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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